Notre Dame's girls did an overnight about-face before the second day of the Times Free Press Best of Preps basketball tournament.
The Lady Irish, with just two starters missing Thursday, bounced out to a 10-point halftime lead, withstood a furious third-quarter rally, then skated home for a 46-34 victory over Central at Chattanooga State.
Coach Jason Hill, agreeing his team had a different look, would say only that there were injuries and some team issues that kept Notre Dame (7-8) from being at full strength in a first-round loss to Tyner on Wednesday.
"It wasn't the same team. We have some issues we're working on inside our team. We have some injuries and we have some discipline issues, and it's all about getting it right by (postseason) tournament time," Hill said. "We put some people in different spots, changed some things up with the idea of figuring out where we're going after Christmas."
Thursday he played everyone on the bench including Mackenzie Johnson, who scored all 10 of her points in the final 10 minutes to break the Lady Pounders (3-5) after they had cut the margin to 35-34 entering the final period.
"We lost our leading scorer about a month ago (torn ACL), and we just got our senior post player (Bella Bombassi) back from a knee injury, so some different people are being thrown into different roles," Hill said. "We're just trying to see who and what works well together."
Alivia Smith led Central with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.
Other Consolation Games
- Arts & Sciences girls 48, Soddy-Daisy 30: The Lady Patriots (2-7) took control steadily in the first half, building a 12-point lead by halftime, then put the game away with a 13-2 run to begin the second half.
CSAS senior Lennex Walker led all scorers with 29 points, including 23 in the first half, and eighth-grader Lamiya Walker scored nine of her 11 points in the second half. Alexis Trimiar scored 10 points for Soddy-Daisy (5-9).
- Arts & Sciences boys 53, Central 50: The momentum swung back and forth, but it was the Patriots (6-3) who closed strongly enough to earn the win.
The teams took turns leading at the end of each quarter, and neither one truly grabbed control until the final minutes, when CSAS took the lead for good.
Senior guard Darius Graves led three Patriots double-figure scorers with 16 points, while Miguel Hamilton and Jameel Dodds each added 12. Those three seniors also accounted for seven 3-pointers.
Senior post McClendon Curtis had 24 points for the Purple Pounders (1-6).
"I thought we might pull it off, but I think nerves got to some of our younger guys," Central coach Rick Rogers said. "That's the kind of game that hopefully will help us grow up some later in the season."
- Baylor boys 65, Soddy-Daisy 30: Beyaun Hendricks led the Red Raiders (4-2), who rebounded from a six-point first quarter with 24 second-quarter points to break the game open.
Hendricks finished with 20 points, including three 3-pointers, and 6-foot-9 Boris Ristanovic added 10. Acrobatic Jacob Flippo scored 18 to lead the Trojans (1-10).